Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Australia is also investing in our region's health systems—in health governance, in specialist clinical services and in training. Last financial year we provided $228 million for regional health programs in the Pacific. In Papua New Guinea, for example, we're working with local partners to provide high-quality, integrated sexual and reproductive health, family planning and maternal and child health services. We're partnering with New Zealand and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to build health system capacity to increase routine immunisation coverage. Australia has supported the establishment of a new ASEAN Centre for Public Health Emergencies and Emerging Diseases. That was part of my discussions with ASEAN foreign ministers today, which delayed my attendance in the chamber—for that, my apologies. Our Pacific Medicines Testing Program is a foundational initiative within our Pacific Step-up. It boosts public safety through the testing of the quality and safety of medicines used in the Pacific by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.